India and Pakistan have not played any cricket bi-lateral series for quite a long time now as both the nations are not on good terms. Pakistan has always been promoting anti-Indian activities from its soil but this time the Indian government took a strong stand and made it clear to Pakistan that sports and anti-India activities can’t go together so there will be no cricket until Pakistan stops all the anti-India activities.
Cricket is certainly the most popular game in both the countries but now Pakistan is using this game for the purpose of spreading its international propaganda. Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) is organizing the franchise cricket tournament Kashmir Premier League (KPL) in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir starting from August 6 and it will end on Aug 17.
There will be total six teams – Rawalakot Hawks, Kotli Lions, Mirpur Royals, Overseas Warriors, Bagh Stallions and Muzaffarabad Tigers, which will be taking part in KPL and the matches will be played in the city Muzaffarabad which is in PoK. Some overseas cricketers along with the Pakistani cricketers are scheduled to take part in this league and now Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has taken a strong stand against this league.
Recently, the former South African cricketer Hershelle Gibbs took to Twitter and alleged that BCCI had been pressurizing him not to take part in KPL. This is what he tweeted, “Completely unnecessary of the @BCCI to bring their political agenda with Pakistan into the equation and trying to prevent me playing in the @kpl_20 . Also threatening me saying they won’t allow me entry into India for any cricket related work. Ludicrous”.
Completely unnecessary of the @BCCI to bring their political agenda with Pakistan into the equation and trying to prevent me playing in the @kpl_20 . Also threatening me saying they won’t allow me entry into India for any cricket related work. Ludicrous 🙄
— Herschelle Gibbs (@hershybru) July 31, 2021
After Hershelle Gibbs’ tweet, PCB also made a statement citing that BCCI is acting against the rules and regulations of ICC by interfering in the matter of its members. On the other hand, the BCCI spokesperson has slammed PCB and said that they are acting as confused people because BCCI holds all the rights to take decisions about the cricketing activities which are taking place in India.
As per reports, BCCI has made it clear to all the cricket boards that all those players who will be taking part in KPL will be banned from working in Indian cricket at any level. While PCB asked International Cricket Council (ICC) to recognize KPL, the apex body doesn’t seem to be in the mood of getting into this disputed matter and has refused to recognize it as an international tournament.
Now the corporates are also boycotting KPL and 11wickets.com, one of the leading sports online companies, has decided to boycott KPL as for them, the sovereignty and integrity of India comes first.
The company issued a press release in which it stated,
“It has always been our mission to make everyone around the world and in India an ardent sports fan. In this endeavor of ours, we have always promoted sports in every form and offering it on our website, 11wickets.com for fantasy tournaments.
Unfortunately, this time we have decided to boycott a league going by the name Kashmir Premier League and recognized by Pakistan Cricket Board which is supposed to be held in August 2021 at Muzaffarabad stadium in Pakistan occupied Kashmir.
For us as a company, the sovereignty and integrity of India come first and are our top priority. In the past, we have supported sports & cricket in various developing nations like Zambia and Afghanistan by sponsoring and offering those leagues on our platform.
Going forward also we will be happy to support cricket & sports in various parts of the world which includes the state of Jammu & Kashmir subject to it is held under the rightful banner of BCCI and India.”
Well, this step from 11wickets.com proves that Corporate Social Responsibility or CSR is not just limited to spending money on various development projects but it has a larger role to play, like the one in this case.
Do you think that Pakistan will get any benefit by organizing KPL?
